Siege of Lunden (884)

The Siege of Lunden occurred in 884 when a Viking fleet of 19 ships and 500 men under the command of the brothers Sigefrid and Erik Thurgilsson attacked the Mercian port town of Lunden (present-day London). The Vikings had sailed up the River Thames from the recently-captured castle of Beamfeot (Benfleet) and attacked London, then a minor port town,  and they massacred the local population; the Danish prophet Bjorn informed Uhtred of Bebbanburg that the streets of London were red. The city was later retaken by King Alfred the Great's West Saxon forces in 886.